American English Pronunciation Blog » linking

American English Pronunciation: Linking and Liasons

susan — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 11:00:38 +0000

Linking happens in every English sentence. We connect two words together when the first word ends in a vowel sound and the next word begins with the same vowel sound.
that table sounds like thattable
next time sounds like nexttime

We also connect words when the first word ends with a consonant sound and the next word begins with a vowel sound.
about it sounds like aboudit
passed out sounds like passdout

If you use liaisons like native speakers do your speech will sound smoother and less choppy to American listeners.

Ann Cook’s book American Accent Training does an excellent job of teaching you to use linking to improve your accent.

Here is some more information about how to improve your American English pronunciation using linking or liaisons.
Liaisons in American English

Linking within Words for Smoother Speech

susan — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:00:15 +0000

If you are an advanced student of American English pronunciation you have probably learned about linking (or liaisons). Linking refers to the connections between words. Ann Cook, author of American Accent Training, says that these connections “allow us to speak in sound groups” instead of word by word.

Spoken English has linking between words and also within words.

Word internal linking occurs when there are 2 vowel sounds inside a word. When this happens native English speakers will insert a /y/ or /w/ glide to connect the sounds.

The /y/ insertion is very common. This is sometimes referred to as the invisible /y/. Here are a few examples:

reunion sounds like reyunion
client sounds like cliyent
diet sounds like diyet

You will also hear a /w/ insertion is some words:
cooperate sounds like cowoperate
graduate sounds like graduwate
coersion sounds like cowersion

Click on the LINKING category to your right to learn more about the importance of linking in American English!

Reduced & Connected Speech in American English

susan — Sun, 02 May 2010 11:40:57 +0000

This week several of my students asked me if reduced speech was only appropriate in informal situations. I don’t believe that it is.

Whenever people speak, they have a tendency to save energy by connecting sounds together. This connected or reduced speech is not necessarily sloppy or informal, it’s the way most Americans speak English in everyday situations.

Reduced or connected speech may include:

contractions
linking sounds together
sound assimilation
epenthesis or addtion of certain sounds
deletion of certain sounds

There are rules and patterns you can learn that will help you understand and use American English reduced speech forms.

For students of English who want to learn more about reduced and connected speech I suggest Nina Weinstein’s Whaddaya Say?
Whaddaya Say? Guided Practice in Relaxed Speech, Second Edition

Teachers of American English pronunciation can learn all of the technical details of assimilation, epenthesis and deletion by reading Celcia-Murcia and Brinton’s classic book, Teaching Pronunciation.
Teaching Pronunciation: A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

Linking in Spoken English

susan — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:04:57 +0000

When Americans speak they link many words together, especially function words. Linking creates smooth transitions between words in a phrase or sentence and give your speech a smooth sound.

Here are 3 rules for linking words when you are speaking English.

1. When the same consonant sound is found at the end of the first word and the beginning of the next word pronounce them as one long sound (Consonant +Consonant). For example:

team mate sounds like teammate
that time sounds like thattime
bus stop sounds like busstop

2. When a consonant sound ends one word and is followed by a vowel sound make the consonant sound part of the second word (Consonant +Vowel). For example:

save it sounds like savit
called up sounds like calledup
turn around sounds like turnaround

3. When a vowel sound is at the end of one word and the beginning of the next word add a /y/ or a /w/ sound between them (Vowel + Vowel). For example:

sounds like do/w/ it
sounds like see /y/it
sounds like I/y/ am

Here is some more information on linking and liaisons in spoken English.

American English:The Sounds of ed

susan — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:00:08 +0000

Several of the students that I am coaching have trouble hearing the ed that comes at the end of past tense verbs. One reason why they are having this problems is that ed does not always sound like /ed/. Sometimes ed sounds like /d/ and sometimes it sounds like /t/.

The other reason the word final ed can be difficult to hear is because native English speakers link words together so that the /d/ & /t/ sounds become part of the following word. That means that:

passed out sounds like pass dout

looked over sounds like look dover

talked about sounds like talk tabout

laughed at sounds like laugh tat

Click here to read my post on How to pronounce ed

Linking in American English

susan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:00:23 +0000

American English speakers use linking to join words toegether so that they are easy to say and flow together smoothly. It often sounds like people are saying one long word since they are no spaces between words.

Here are 2 common types of linking in American spoken English.

Consonant to vowel linking

When words that end in a consonant sound are adjacent to words that begin with a vowel sound the consonant sound becomes part of the second word. To link these words together hold the consonant sound of the first word until you say the vowel sound of the second word.

Here are some examples:

1.. likes it = likes-sit

2. laughed at = laught-tat

3. explain it = explain-nit

In the above phrases the consonant is the last sound of the first word and the first sound in the adjacent word.

Vowel to vowel linking

When words that end in a vowel sound are adjacent to words that begin with a vowel sound English speakers add a /y/ or /w/ sound to link them together.

Here are some examples:

1. too + early = toowearly

2. who + is + it = whowizit

3. I + am = Iyam

If you can use linking when you are speaking with Americans your accent will improve and people will understand you more easily!

Eva Easton has some nice lessons on linking in English pronunciation on her website.

You can also read and print my article called Improve Your American English Pronunciation and Reduce Your Accent With Linking.

English Pronunciation Audio and Video

susan — Sun, 24 May 2009 12:52:35 +0000

BBC Learning English is a fantastic multimedia site that you can use to learn English pronunciation. Of course the accents in the audio and video samples are British but many of the rules for spoken English such as the schwa sound, voicing, linking and consonant clusters apply to American spoken English as well.